Author's Notes – Here you go, another helping! Hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer – Nope, sorry, not mine. Damn pesky lawyers and their copyrights…

'We got them!' Ginny told the boys, waving her and Hermione's dress bags at they joined them in the Three Broomsticks.

'I should think so,' Ron exclaimed, 'You were in that bloody shop for ages!'

'Now now Ronald,' Ginny scolded her older brother, 'Don't you want Hermione and me to look stunning for the Ball?'

Ron rolled his eyes, and went to get the girls some butterbeers. 'So, do we get to see these ridiculously extravagant dresses?' asked Harry.

'Of course not!' a shocked Ginny exclaimed, 'You'll just have to wait until Valentine's Day to see them like everyone else.'

Harry grinned, and slung his arm around Ginny's shoulder, kissing her innocently on the forehead as she leant back against his chest. Hermione sighed as she watched her best friends. They were the perfect couple; loving and supportive of one another, but at the same time able to tell each other off and keep each other grounded. She felt a pang of jealousy as she watched Harry whisper something in Ginny's ear, Ginny giggling in return. Will I ever be in love like that?

'Here we are.' Ron set butterbeers down in front of the girls, 'And Harry, whilst I appreciate you care about her, please refrain from groping my baby sister in front of me.'

Harry grinned sheepishly at Ron, and stopped nuzzling Ginny's neck. She pouted at Ron, 'Ruining my fun.'

'So, how about that quiddich match then?' Harry asked, and Hermione immediately tuned out, turning to glance along the bar. She stopped when she saw Malfoy leaning against the bar, talking to his cronies. He had healed quite well, although his eye still had a purplish tinge to it, and the cut on his cheek was still obvious, a dark red line across his ivory skin. She had to hand it to Fred, he did good work. She was so busy watching him that she didn't realise he was staring back at her. Suddenly noticing, she blushed and quickly looked away.

'What is ferret face looking at?' growled Ron, who had looked across at the bar.

'Don't know, but he's not looking too pretty these days, is he?' Harry answered, snorting with laughter at Malfoy's bruises.

'Yeah, but I'll bet he deserved it for whatever he did to that girl!' Hermione jumped at Ron's comment, before she remembered the lie Malfoy had told everyone; he didn't want everyone to know he had been beaten up by a Weasley. He had quickly spread it around that he'd gotten into a fight with some older boys over a girl during the holidays. Of course everyone believed him, he was a notorious womaniser, and it wasn't the first time he'd got himself into trouble over it. Well, noone can call him a liar, that's for sure, thought Hermione, as she watched him break away from his group of friends and leave the pub.

That night at dinner, Dumbledore announced the Valentine's Balls (they had decided to have two; one for first to fourth years, and a later one for fifth to seventh years), to a thunderous applause from the students; they were after all hormonal teenagers, and as far as they were concerned any excuse to get close to the opposite sex was a good thing. Dumbledore waited for the Hall to quiet down before continuing, 'Your hosts for the evening will be our Head boy and girl, Mr Draco Malfoy and Miss Hermione Granger. If you have any questions regarding the Ball please feel free to ask either of them, or any prefect. On that note, does anyone have any questions just now?'

A young brunette girl stood up at the Ravenclaw table, 'What are we supposed to wear?'

'Miss Granger? I believe you can answer this.' Dumbledore smiled at her, before sitting back down in his chair.

'Well, it's formalwear; evening dresses et cetera for girls and suits and tuxes for boys. And it's masquerade so you'll all need a face or eye mask.' Hermione answered.

'What about dates?' asked a Gryffindor girl.

'Well, they're not essential, but highly recommended!' Hermione replied, to a round of laughter from the crowd in the Hall.

'Chaperones?' an older Hufflepuff boy stood up, a grin on his and his friends' faces.

'There will be teachers there, I'm afraid, so you'll just have to keep those hormones in check.' McGonagall informed him from her chair next to Dumbledore. Many of the boys in the Hall groaned.

'Well, if there are no further questions, let us eat!' Dumbledore waved his arm, and food appeared on the plates in front of the students.

Hermione began eating, laughing and discussing the day's trip to Hogsmeade with Ginny, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Seamus standing behind her.

'Hi, Seamus!' she greeted him warmly.

'Um, can we have a word?' he asked her sheepishly.

'Yeah, how can I help you?'

'Well, I was just wondering if you – I thought maybe – the thing is –' he stuttered, his face turning red.

'Just ask already, Seamus!' Harry prompted his friend, stifling a laugh.

'What I'm trying to say is will you go to the Ball with me?' he asked in one breath.

Hermione giggled, 'Oh Seamus, I'd love to!'

He let out a huge breath, 'Okay, great! Well, I'll talk to you later, okay?'

'Okay.' He walked back to his chair, smiling to himself.

'See? Told you he liked you.' Ron said smugly, as Hermione threw a breadstick at him.

Hermione was still smiling as she entered her common room later that night, but she faltered when she saw Malfoy pinning a fifth year boy against the wall. Rushing over and prying his strong hands of the younger boy's collar, she cried, 'What the hell do you think you're doing, Malfoy?'

'Leave us Granger, this has nothing to do with you.' Malfoy snarled.

'As Head Girl I think it does.' she placed her hands on her hips and glared at him.

'I said leave.' he growled, towering over her. Hermione felt a jolt of fear running up her spine, but she wasn't about to let Malfoy hurt the boy so she stood her ground between them.

'No.' she snarled back.

'It's okay, really,' the boy said quietly, edging toward the door, using Hermione to shield him from Malfoy, 'I was just leaving.'

'Not without paying me, Jason.' Malfoy's tone stopped him dead in his tracks.

The boy gripped onto Hermione's shoulders and held her in place between Malfoy and himself. 'I told you, Draco, I don't have the money.'

'Well you better get it. You shouldn't make bets if you can't pay up.'

This is all about that stupid bet! Hermione thought.

'I never expected you to do it! I thought it would be easy money!' Jason exclaimed, moving backwards towards the door, still using Hermione as a shield.

'But I did do it. So you've got until Friday to pay up. That's almost a week; I think I'm being pretty generous.' Malfoy said, looking meaningfully at the boy.

'Okay, okay. I'll have the money by then.' Jason sighed, opening the door. He was just about to walk through it when he paused and turned to look at Hermione, 'I guess I should thank you.'

'Huh?'

'Well, if he'd nailed you I'd owe him double what I do.' Jason shrugged, 'Good thing you're not a slut like the rest of them.'

With that he left the common room, leaving a very astounded Hermione staring after him.

She closed the door and turned to face Malfoy, who was also looking at the place where Jason had stood with look of utter horror on his face.

'Malfoy, what did he mean?' Hermione asked slowly.

The Slytherin stood silently, lowering his eyes to the floor.

'You didn't tell anyone that you had sex with me, did you?'

'No.' he replied so quietly she almost didn't hear him.

'But you did. You could've won your bet.' she was confused, 'And you still gave me the money.'

'I told you why I gave you the money already.' he answered.

'Yeah,' she stepped closer towards him, 'But why didn't you tell them so you could win your bet. That's the whole reason you did it in the first place.'

He shrugged. 'Dunno.'

Something exploded inside of Hermione. 'You dunno! Exactly what sort of sick little game are you playing here, Malfoy?' she roared.

'I'm not playing games.' he replied stubbornly, bending his head down to look into her eyes.

'Could've fooled me!' Hermione shouted, her face mere inches from his, 'One minute you're calling me mudblood and shagging me just to win a bet, next thing you're covering for me and not telling people what I've done!'

'Why do you care?' he was also shouting now.

'Because when you're being nice to me you actually seem like a decent guy.'

'And why does that matter to you?'

'It just does!' she was staring into his sparkling grey eyes, 'So stop playing games!'

'I've told you I'm not playing games!'

'Well, why are you acting like this then?'

'Like what?'

'Like you actually care about me!'

'Because I do!'

His answer took her by surprise, but not as much as what he did next. Both of them still fuming, he grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up. Oh no! she thought, He's going to throw me across the room! No, wait, he's going to- Her train of thought was cut off as he put his hand behind her neck, pulled her head towards his own, and kissed her.